Divi Diva

I am writing this post in disgust.

My laptop battery conked out a few weeks ago, and here’s the saga of finding a replacement therefor in the Philippines.

I went to the IT Center building on Gilmore Road corner Autora Boulevard and found a stall (front lobby on the left) that said they had one in stock. It was selling for Php3,800.00. When we asked the seller if it was a ‘brand new’ battery or ’secoind hand,’ he kept saying ‘replacement.’ When my companion asked further if it was’branded’ or ‘generic’ the man said ‘generic.’ So we did not buy it from him, because we figured that he really had no idea what he was selling.

Toshiba sells brand new, replacement batteries with the Toshiba brand for their laptops, because laptop batteries do not last forever. The first charge held by my Satellite, an M115-S3094, was for three hours, that decreased in time, until eventually it held absolutely no charge.

Instead we called what he called ‘the office,’ which was the number of his wholesaler in Kalookan City, who promptly referred us back to the same stall saying that we could not buy from him, the wholesaler, unless we bought a minimum of 10 pieces.

The man we spoke to the second time around was more informed and said he had stock, so we went back to the IT Center. This time, it turns out, the box indicated the model we wanted, a PA3399u-2BRS, but inside the box was the wrong battery! He said, to check back in a week or two, so we gave up the idea of buying one from him.

There was of course, the option of Ebay, but there were no such items for sale by Philippines sellers, although there were international sellers from Hong Kong, China and Australia.

Since my sister, Karin, was going to Hong Kong for five days, and she volunteered to scour Hong Kong for the Toshiba laptop batter I needed, I put off purchasing from Ebay since the international sellers indicated a shipping time of 7-14 days after the transaction.

 In the meantime, IT Center seller calls me and says that they had stock and I could buy it from them anytime.

We picked Karin up from NAIA Terminal 3 at 11:45 pm last night and she said that she was not able to get me the battery. So I figure, IT Center here we come!

Today we went to IT Center,  five days after the IT Center seller told me he had the item in stock, and, of course, he had sold his one and only piece!

So I figured to call Tricom Dynamics, which is the official Toshiba laptop retailer in the Philippines, and the lady informed me that their price was Php5,600 (or was it Php5,900?), and — this is why I cannot recall the exact quoted price except that it was Php2,000 more expensive than IT Center — ‘order time was 60 to 90 days!

OMG!

Toshiba should rethink their official retailer or distributor, whichever Tricom Dynamics is, because they will order replacement parts only when there is a specific demand for one.

No customer should be asked to wait two to three months for a laptop replacement part. Else, they will go to other sources.

So Ebay, here I come!

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